Adjudication No. 556 (March 1992) [1992] APC 26

Adjudication No. 556 (March 1992)

The Press Council has upheld complaints by Ms Robyn Remfrey and the NT Acting Commissioner of Police against an article in the Sunday Territorian.

The complaints arose over part of an article ('BLOODY VIOLENCE ERUPTS") which dealt with a spate of violent incidents in Tennant Creek. One of these incidents involved Ms Remfrey's brother, who was subsequently charged with a number of offences.

The complainants are concerned that the article attributed unofficial public disclosure of the alleged offender's name, and details about the alleged offences, to a Tennant Creek policeman.

Ms Remfrey felt that this publicity was a breach of ethics and confidentiality which could result in a denial of natural justice for her brother. The Acting Commissioner for Police, who investigated the attribution of statement to the policeman and found it to be false, agreed, but also complained about the inference which might be drawn from the article that the officer had acted unprofessionally in the matter.

Both the journalists concerned and the Sunday Territorian admit that the named officer was not the source of statements attributed to him. In fact Mr Remfrey himself appears to have volunteered the information about his alleged offences.

Even though, as the newspaper states, part of this information was later confirmed by the policeman, the wrong attribution to that policeman of a detailed account was, in the Press Council's view, a serious lapse of journalistic standards.